55-foot cruiser runs aground on Brac reef

A fishing boat apparently broke free of its moorings off Cayman Brac Monday and ran aground on the reef off the northern coast, according to police.

The police service joint marine unit received a distress call Monday afternoon, and officers boarded the vessel just before 7 p.m. The police report states the captain has made arrangements with a salvage company on Grand Cayman to get the boat off the reef.

“It’s resting on its keel and has no visible hull damage,” police spokesman Adrian Seales said.

The British Virgin Islands-flagged boat, named Chiquitta, had five people on board, according to police, a man and woman from Mexico and three Honduran men.

According to the report, they told police they were traveling from Cozumel, Mexico, and had stopped in Grand Cayman before going to the Brac.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the boat was still stuck on the reef in the area of the old Buccaneer Inn, just west of Scott’s Dock.

A photo provided by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service shows the boat that ran aground on a reef off the north side of the Brac.